Forbidden Friendship
by BeaRsBeeTsBattleStarGalacticAx
Summary: A girl named Sara becomes friends the gang after helping Ponyboy. She loves hanging out with them, but her mom doesnt approve of it. I know the title's stupid, but it was the only thing I could think of, so it might change. Rated T for some language.
1. Chapter 1

(AN: I don't own ANY Outsiders characters, they belong to SE Hinton . Also, the beginning might be a little boring, so please bear with me. _And _sorry about all of the breaks, I wanted the first chapter to be sort of long.)

I was walking down the hallway to my 9th period class when Ponyboy Curtis came up to me.

"Hey, you're… Sara right?"

I didn't know him too well, so I didn't know what to say. "Yes. Why do you want to know?"

"Well, I was wonderin' if you could help me with something," he said, pulling me over to a row of lockers.

"I'm listening," I said, trying not look nervous, even though I was.

"I was wondering if you could uhm, tutor me in history, since I've noticed that you get good grades, and I don't," he whispered.

Ponyboy Curtis was only 14, a year younger than me. A few years back he got moved up a grade or two I think, so he was a sophomore instead of a freshman. But he had always looked a few years younger than he was. Anyway, I was a little hesitant about answering him because he was a greaser, but he was nothing like the guys he hung around with. The only ones I knew of besides him where Two-Bit Matthews and Johnny Cade. From what I'd heard they were the only ones that were still in school.

"Why not, you're a nice kid," I answered, smiling. "When should I come over?"

"I don't mean to be rude but how about after school today, I mean since we got that test in a week," he asked nervously.

"I'll have to check my calendar but…"

"If you c-can't come today, it's fine with me."

"I'm only kidding with you," I said jokingly, "Today sounds good."

"Great! Meet me by the bike racks after the last bell rings."

"Ok, Pony. See you then," I said just as the warning bell rang.

************************

The last bell had rung, and I was making my way towards the bike racks where Pony had told me to meet him. I got there and he wasn't there yet, but I knew from him being in a few of my classes that he was always forgetting things. Just when I was about to go look for him, he came running from the direction of the school.

"Hi, sorry I'm late," he said, out of breath. "My brothers always say that things are always slippin' my mind."

"That's ok," I said, smiling.

We had just started walking down the sidewalk and Ponyboy was telling me all about his brothers and his friends and what he needed help with in history when he suddenly got serious.

"Before I forget, I have to tell you something very important," he told me, "When we go over the train tracks, make sure you stay near me. I have a blade I borrowed from Two-Bit, but that won't help when the Socs are beatin' on you and not me."

I didn't answer him, because I was too scared thinking about what would ever happen if the Socs jumped us. I had heard a lot about what some of the Socs had did to some of the kids at our school, and just picturing it happening to me or even Ponyboy made me cringe.

"Here's my street," Pony exclaimed, shoving his hands into his sweatshirt pockets. "When we go inside, don't be scared of my brothers. Once you get to know them, you'll be like part of the gang."

He opened the door for me and walked in behind me.

"Hey, I'm home. And I brought a friend," he exclaimed.

Pony's brother Sodapop was sitting on the couch watching TV. He was exactly how Pony had described him: brown hair, gorgeous blue eyes, funny, and sensitive and wild and reckless at the same time. He looked up from watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon when he heard the screen door slam.

"Hey, kid. Who's you're friend?" Soda asked, looking at me.

"This is Sara, my uh- friend from school. She's gonna be helpin' me study for a history test we're havin' in a week," he answered.

"Seriously? You need someone to help you study? Or is this just an excuse to bring your little girlfriend to the house?" he asked, tussling with his brother's hair.

"She's _not _my girlfriend, and if she was, I wouldn't be saying it. Sara, you can go in my room and set everything up, I'm gonna get us a snack."

"OK," I told him, blushing from what Soda had said.

I walked towards where the bedrooms seemed to be, looking at all of the pictures and knick-knacks around the main room.

"It's the first room on the left," Soda called.

"Thanks," I said.

When I walked into Ponyboy's bedroom, there was one double bed, so I assumed that since he had told me that money had been tight since their parents died, Pony and Soda shared a bed. The walls were sort of bare except for the few big maps of the world and the US. Just as I plopped down on the bed and started taking out the history textbook and the other things we needed to study, I heard people talking through the door.

"So… just a friend huh?" I heard a voice that sounded like Sodapop's.

"Shoot, I already told you that there's nothing going on," Pony answered.

"OK, OK, I believe ya. She's real pretty though, Pony." Soda said, giving him a wink.

"I gotta go study if the guys are gonna be over in an hour."

Pony came into the room and gave me our snack, half a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of milk.

*********************

"Yes Mom, I'll be home in 15 minutes," I said, "No, Mom, I was tutoring Ponyboy Curtis."

"Isn't he the boy with the brother that works down at the gas station and the brother the roofs houses? And don't they live in the… bad part of town?" my mom asked, sounding worried.

"_Yes_ Mom, but he and his brothers are very nice. They have good manners and are really respectful to girls."

"Honey, are you _sure _you don't need me to pick you up? I don't want you walking home in that bad of a neighborhood," my mom told me.

"It's fine Mom, Pony's brother Darry already said that he'll drive me home," I assured her.

"Alright honey, see you when you get home."

"C'mon kid, I wanna drive you home before it gets dark," Darry called. "I don't want your mom thinkin' you're hangin' around with a bunch of hoods," he chuckled.

"I'm coming," I said, putting on my denim jacket. "Bye guys, see next week," I yelled, walking out the door of the Curtis house.


	2. Chapter 2

(AN: Again, the characters from The Outsiders and That 70's Show do not belong to me, they belong to SE Hinton and the creators of the show. All of the other characters belong to me. And this chapter is a little long too, but I had to get everything that happens in this part all in one chapter.)

I was eating breakfast one morning a few weeks after my first time at the Curtis house, arguing with my mom.

"Mom, I already told you! All of the guys Pony and his brothers hang out with are _good guys._ Just because they're in a gang and they carry blades for protection doesn't mean they're bad. The only one that's been giving me any grief was Two- I mean, Keith. But he's almost always drunk."

"And I told you that I do not want you going over there anymore, tutor or not."

"It's one more week until the history test, just let me go over there one last time to help Pony study. He's been doing better since I've been coming over." I explained.

"You're not going over there ever again, and that's final."

"But _Mom!_" I shouted.

"Have a good day at school honey. Love you."

"Love you too," I grunted, storming out of the house.

When I got to school, I saw Pony, Johnny, and for some reason Two-Bit hanging out by a bunch of that I guessed were theirs. All I did was give them a quick "Hi" and walked to my first period which was science.

"Sara! Come here for a sec," I heard a loud voice call across the hallway. Two-Bit.

I walked towards where they were standing, being cautious if anyone was staring. I hated being the center of attention, especially at school.

"We were just wonderin' if you were still comin' over after school today to help Ponyboy here study." Two-Bit asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"And I was wondering if after we studied that you would stay over for dinner, since it's Friday," Pony asked, elbowing Two-Bit in the ribs.

"Well, uhm… my mom said that I'm not allowed to come over to your house anymore. She said somethin' about you guys being "bad influences"." I explained.

"Oh, that's alright. I'll just get Johnnycake to he-"he started.

"No, no. Johnny doesn't have to help you," I told whispered, "I'm still coming over to your house after school. I'm gonna tell my mom that I went to a football game or something and that I'm gonna be home late."

Johnny had a surprised look on his face. "Wow Sara, I never thought you would… wow."

"Yeah kid, I never woulda thought, you of all people, would be turnin' into one of us," Two-Bit said, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"I didn't think I would either," I smiled, blushing.

The bell rang for homeroom and we all went our separate ways for the day.

It was the first time that for the whole day, I just couldn't concentrate on school. It wasn't because I was worried about what I would say to my mom, it was because I couldn't wait for the day to end.

After school, I made my way to where I usually met Ponyboy and Johnny. They were leaning against a big oak tree, trying to look tuff.

"Hey guys," I shouted, waving at them.

"Hi," Johnny managed to squeak out. He looked nervous about something, but then again he always did.

"C'mon lets go," Ponyboy said, breaking the silence, "You don't gotta call your mom'r anything do ya?" he asked.

"Nope. I went down to the office during my free period and told her I was goin' to a game. I won't get caught."

"Alright," he shouted, smiling.

We walked the block and a half it took to get to Pony's house from the school. All three of us were keeping an eye out for Socs' cars, just in case. We got to the house, and both Soda and Darry were still at work. Dally was lying on the couch sleeping. I went to the fridge and got out some milk, and the noise from the refrigerator door closing woke Dally up.

"I was tryin' to take nap here, if you haven't noticed," he said groggily, "So I would shut up if I was you."

"C'mon Dal, you don't gotta be mean to everyone just 'cause we woke you up, I said.

Normally, Dallas would've gotten up and kicked the shit out of whoever mouthed off to him. But since I said it, he didn't, because I was one of the only people in the gang he liked besides Johnny, but I think it's partly because I'm a girl.

"Yeah, Dally. It's called being nice, you should try it sometime," Pony said.

He gave Pony a look like he was gonna come over to him and knock him on his ass for being wise, but instead he mumbled something under his breath that sounded like "wise ass" and lay on the couch again.

"Come on, Pony. There's only one more week til the test, we gotta work hard today," I said, carrying my textbook into his room and pulling him by the arm.

"I know, I know. Darry an' Soda are gonna be home from work in about an hour, so I wanna get everything done before it gets crazy," he said as he sat down on the bed.

"Well then you have to try today," I said with a chuckle.

We worked for almost 45 minutes on old test questions I had gotten from our history teacher, Mr. Shears. I could tell he was getting restless, but there was only one more question left, and it was an easy one.

"OK, last one. When was the War of 1812?" I asked him.

"Uhmm…" he started. I knew damn well he knew the answer, but he was just messing with me. "I got it! 1812!" he cried.

"Good," I said, smiling, "That was the last one. Mr. Shears is gonna be so surprised when he grades your test on Wednesday when he sees you got an A."

There were a few minutes of silence, because I could tell that he was daydreaming about bringing home that A to his brothers and how proud they would be.

"Sorry, I was just daydreamin'," he said, shaking his head to get his mind set again, "I thought I heard the front door slam. Probably Darry."

We walked out of his room to see Darry sitting on one of the chairs in the living room reading the paper.

"Hey Dar," Pony exclaimed.

Darry looked up from reading an article about how the Soviets launched the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon. "Hi Pony, hi Sara. How was school?" he asked.

"Pretty good. Me and Pony got A's on our English papers," I answered. Even though I had only known the guys a few weeks, it was like I'd known them my whole life. So I could talk to any of them about anything, and it was no big deal.

"That's good," he said, going back to reading the article. "Pony, she tells me more from one day than you tell me in a week, and she's not even our sister," he said with a chuckle.

"That's not true," he argued. "Just because I don't tell you _everything _doesn't mean nothin' happens. I just keep things to myself, you know that. You guys wanna know the score of the Cardinals game last night? They won."

"Sure, I like baseball," I answered.

Just as Darry was about to tell us the score of the St. Louis Cardinals game, Soda and Steve came bursting through the front door.

"Hi everybody," Soda exclaimed, looking right at me.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"What's goin' on?" Soda asked, giving Ponyboy a nugie.

"Nothin' much Pepsi-Cola," I answered. He laughed when I called him that, but I wasn't sure why. I knew that he only let Darry getting away with calling him that, since it was what their dad used to call him.

"So, Darry, what's for dinner? Steve wants to stay over," he told him.

"I don't know yet, but now we gotta make twice as much as we normally do, Sara's staying for dinner, too," he answered.

Johnny got up from the couch and made his way to the front door.

"Hey guys, I'm goin' down to the store to get a few things, I'll be back," he announced.

"Wait Johnny, I think I'm gonna go, too. I need some bubble gum," I said.

"Oh, ok. We'll be back in a little bit. I got Two-Bit's blade with me, we're safe."

"Alright Johnnycake, we'll be here," Dally said.

I'd completely forgotten that he was even there, because he'd been lying on the floor watching something on TV the whole time.

**********************

Johnny and I were walking back from the drug store and onto the street by the park when we saw a red Mustang pull off from the road and go really slow next to us. There were 4 or 5 of them in the car, and I wouldn't admit to Johnny, because I thought it would just make him more scared, but I was terrified.

"Hey grease," the one in the passenger seat said. "I think you're a little lost, this isn't your territory."

"N-no, I think you're the ones that are lost," he said. "This is greaser territory."

"Dave, I think we're gonna have to beat some sense into this kid. This is defiantly Socs' territory."

Just as I was about to run away, they all jumped out of the car and headed straight for Johnny. He pulled me back and said, "No Sara, don't run. If you do, you're gonna be the one they go after first." And I listened to him and didn't move a muscle. All I could do now was watch.

The leader, Dave, and 2 of the guys from the backseat took Johnny, threw him on the ground, and started wailing at him. He was screaming at the top of his lungs as they punched and kicked him all over. I couldn't bear to watch him in pain any longer. All of my anger just built up and I exploded like a firecracker. I ran from where I was, and jumped on the one Soc blue madras on. I tried as hard as I could to get him to stop, but it was no use.

"Bob, get this damn girl off of me! And do whatever you need to, you dig?" he said, eyeing Bob's rings.

"You got it," he said, cracking his knuckles. He came towards me real slow. "So, you mad at my friend here for hurting your little boyfriend?" he asked me, taking my arms and throwing me to ground.

"He's… NOT… my boyfriend!" I managed to get out.

"Then he won't care if I beat on you too," he snickered.

Bob started hitting me in the stomach, and hard.

"I know someone who will, you bastard!" I screamed in between blows.

"Mouthing off to me, huh? I guess I'm just gonna have to get you where it really hurts," he said. He started punching me in the face, and it wouldn't have hurt as bad as it did if he didn't have all those rings. He gave me one hard one in the eye, and then everything went black.

Ponyboy's POV

"Johnny and Sara still aren't back," I said. "They said they'd be back in a little bit, and that was a half hour ago. What if something happened?"

"Stop worryin'. Johnny knows his way around," Steve replied.

"Pony's right Steve," Darry told him. "Maybe a few of us should go out and look for them. The chicken I made's gettin' cold."

"I'll go," I brought up the courage to say. I went out the door and started walking down our street.

I walked down the street from my house and turned the corner and walked down the street towards the park, which you had to pass in order to get to the drug store. I turned the corner past the abandoned house, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I saw Johnny, and Sara, lying on the sidewalk bleeding. Johnny was cut up and bruised real bad. Sara, on the other hand, had bruises on her arms, had a lot of bad cuts on her face, and what was starting to become a black eye.


	3. Chapter 3

(AN: This chapter is pretty dramatic lol. I hope you like it! The characters I used from That 70s Show don't belong to me, they belong to the creators of the show.)

Ponyboy's POV continued

I was in shock when I saw them like that, and did the first thing I could think of. I knelt to the ground and checked if they were still breathing. Johnny was moaning in pain, but Sara was out cold. I went over to Johnny and looked at him.

"Johnny? Johnnycake? Can you hear me?" I asked him, almost crying.

"Po-Pony. Is that you?" he asked back.

"Yeah, yeah buddy. It's me. I'm goin' to get the guys. You're gonna ok."

He tried to smile, but I could tell he was in agonizing pain.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked.

"S-S-Socs," he cried.

I ran from the park all the way back to my house. I was so scared that I didn't stop. I couldn't. At times like these, I was glad I was on the track team. I burst through the front door, trying to slow down.

"Darry, Soda, Dally!" I yelled.

"Ponyboy what is it? What's wrong?" Soda asked me, looking worried.

"It's Sara and Johnny! At the park, Socs," I panted, still out of breath.

"What happened with Sara and Johnny with Socs? They didn't get jumped did they?" Soda asked, jumping from his chair.

"No time to explain! Follow me, and hurry," I said.

We (I mean me, Soda, Darry, Steve, and Dally) ran to the park as fast as we could to where I had found them. When we got there, Johnny was barely conscious. Sara was still out cold but she was still bleeding.

"Oh my God!" Soda cried, running to Sara. "Sara? Sara? Can you hear me?"

"She's out cold, man," I said. _Does he really think his voice is gonna magically wake her up? He's too much sometimes. _I thought.

Darry was checking Johnny's cuts and trying to get him to stay conscious. "Dally, Pony, find somethin' to cover these up until we get him back to the house," he told us. I took off my sweatshirt and my shirt, even though it was a little chilly outside because it was getting dark. "Soda, Steve, do the same for Sara. Use anything ya got. One of you carry her back."

"I'm already on it," Soda told him as he picked her up gently.

In no time at all, Darry had Johnny's wounds wrapped up as best he could, and he was carrying him back to the house.

"Of course Superman don't need anyone to help 'im carry Johnny," I heard Steve say under his breath. Darry must have heard it too, because he got mad at him an' said "Shut up, Steve. We don't need your smart ass remarks right now."

Soda had done the same Sara. It took me a while to understand why he was so rough with us, but then when he saw Sara lying there, he was as gentle as an old dog with her. And as me and Dally were walking back to the house, it came to me: He liked Sara. I was a little suspicious the first day she came over when he had said she was pretty an' all that.

When we got back to the house Sara was still out cold and Johnny was on the couch. Soda went into our room and carefully put Sara in our bed, but on his side. He never, ever lets anyone sleep on his side of the bed, hung-over, hurt, whatever. Then I knew something was going on.

Sara's POV

I had no idea what had just happened, but had obviously gained consciousness again. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Soda.

"Soda?" I asked, "What happened to me?"

"Shh, you're ok… Well, you're not _ok _ok, but you're fine now," he replied, smiling.

"But…" I started.

He was carrying me because I knew I wasn't walking and I had a feeling I couldn't. I for some reason I felt safe in his arms, protected. But not like brother and sister. Something more than that.

********************

I must've passed out again, because the next thing I knew, I was in Ponyboy and Soda's bedroom. My head hurt badly, and my arms were sore. I lifted up the blankets to look at why my arms where hurting and they were turning black and blue. I was the only one in the room, so it was quiet. I heard someone talking on the phone, Darry.

"Y-Yes Mrs. Forman, she's here, safe and sound," I heard him say to whoever was on the other line.

_Mrs. Forman? No, not my mom! I told her this morning that I was going to a football game! She's gonna kill me… _

"No, just some bruises on her arms, a lot of cuts on her face, probably from somebody's rings," I heard him say, followed by what sounded by yelling from the other line.

"Sure, you can come take her home," he told her, and then hung up with a "Bye".

"Darry, can you come in here?" I called.

He walked from the kitchen and opened the door. "Need anything?" he asked.

"No. I needed to ask you something," I told him.

"Alright, shoot," he said, sitting in Pony's desk chair.

"Why did you tell my mom to come pick me up?" I asked, "She's gonna flip when she sees what happened to me, and I'm gonna have to explain what happened."

"I already told her everything that happened. Ponyboy told me when we got back here," he explained.

************************

When I woke up, my clock read 1:05 AM. I didn't remember anything that happened after I had talked to Darry the night before, except I remember seeing Soda sitting in Ponyboy's chair every time I went in and out of consciousness. I was about to fall back asleep when I heard a light knock on my door. Mom. She never bothered to ask if she could come in or not, and she knew I hated it.

"Sara, we need to talk," she said.

"Mom, its 1:00 in the morning, let me go back to sleep. I had a rough afternoon yesterday."

"I know you did. That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"I'm listening."

"How could you lie to me? You never lied to me before you started hanging out with those… dirtbags! And besides, I told you yesterday that if you went over there again, you wouldn't get away with it."

"Mom! They are _not _dirtbags! You don't even know them!"

Even in the dark, I could tell my mom looked like she wanted to kill me, right then and there.

"That's it! Get your ass out this house right now! I don't care where you go, or who you go with, just leave! If you're not out of here in less than 10 minutes, I'm calling the police!"

I jumped out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans, a tank top, and a sweatshirt, packed a bag with $30, a pen and paper, and my toothbrush and deodorant, and ran out of the house. Tears were pouring out of my eyes, so much that I couldn't see where I was going. My mind was going in circles, and there were so many things bouncing around in my head. I didn't have any family in Tulsa, so the first place I thought of to go was the Curtis house. I saw the abandoned house on the corner of their street and turned. I sprinted all the way down the street to their house. All I wanted to do at that moment was get as far away as possible from my mom, and be with my best friends. I raced up the steps, almost tripping. I knocked on the door as quietly as I could, in case Two-Bit, Johnny, Dally, or Tim Sheperd was sleeping on the couch. To my surprise, no one was, and no one was answering the door.

I was still crying, but not because I was upset, but because I was scared to death about what was going to happen to me. Finally, I heard someone walk slowly to the door.

"Who the hell is it? Do you know what time it is?" they asked. It was Darry.

"It's me. Let me in," I cried in between sobs.

When he opened the door, he went from groggy and annoyed to worried and concerned.

"Sara? Is that you?" he asked.

"Yeah it's me! Who did you think it was, the president of the United States?" I asked.

"What happened? Why are you crying?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"Just let me in and I'll explain everything."

"OK, come on in, get outta the cold."

I walked inside the house and sat down on one side of the couch. Darry sat across from me in his chair.

"Do you wanna hear everything?" I asked, still crying a little.

"Yeah, tell me everything," he said.

"Alright, so yesterday morning, me and my mom were arguing. I kept telling her over and over again that you guys were nice guys, but she told me that I couldn't come over here anymore because she thought you were all "bad influences." But I told her that just because you guys live on the poor side of town- no offense- that doesn't mean you're bad. And then she yelled at me and told me to go to school or I was gonna be late."

"Keep goin'," he told me.

"Then on my way to school, I thought of something to tell my mom, 'cause I knew I couldn't tell her. When I got into school, I saw Pony, Johnny, and Two-Bit. And all I did was wave at them and walk to class. Then of course Two-Bit had to call me over, and he asked if I was still gonna come over to help Pony study again. And I told them that I was gonna tell my mom that I was goin' to a football game and that I was gonna be home late. You already know about what happened when Johnny got jumped, and I tried to help him, but I got even more hurt than he did. So when I woke up at my house, my mom knocked on my door and said we needed to talk. She asked me why I lied to her and that I only started lying to her after I started hanging out with all of you- which isn't true- and that you guys are dirt bags. She also said that I wasn't getting way with going over here after she said I couldn't. Then I told her that she doesn't know any of you and she got really, really mad and she kicked me out of the house!!" I finished as I started to cry again.

"No, no, don't cry anymore," Darry said, holding me. I dug my face into his shirt, crying harder.

Pony and Soda must've heard me from their room, while I was crying they came running out. I looked up to them, and when Ponyboy saw that I was crying, his eyes got huge.

"Darry what happened?" he asked, looking confused and worried. After all, I was one of his best friends.

"Her mom kicked her out of the house. She doesn't have anywhere else to go," he told them.

"But _why?_" he asked.

I gathered up the courage to talk again. "She told me yesterday morning that if I came over here again, I wouldn't get away with it. I didn't get away with it. She made me leave," I said, sniffling.

They all got up and went into the hallway where the bedrooms were. I couldn't hear that well, but I could make out most of what they were saying.

"We can't just make her go to a motel," I heard Pony say.

"Yeah Dar, we can't make 'er live on the streets," Soda told him.

"I know, I know. She doesn't have any other family here besides her mom. But if Social Services comes, I'll… try to get custody of her," Darry said.

They walked out from the hallway.

"Soda, go help Sara into the extra room. Take her bag for her, will ya?" Darry asked him.

"My pleasure," Soda said, with a big smile on his face.

"Wait, what's going on? You guys are letting me stay here?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup," Soda told me. "Come on, follow me."

I followed him to the room in between his and Pony's room and Darry's room. It was sort of small, but I liked it, and there was a window facing the front yard, just like in Pony and Soda's bedroom.

"Thanks," I said, as he put my backpack on the bed.

"No problem," he said, winking at me. "You should get some sleep, its past 2 in the morning."

"Don't worry, Dad. I will," I told him, laughing.

He walked to the door and just before he walked out the door, he turned around, looked at me, smiled and said "You're gonna be OK."


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. As I was rubbing my eyes, trying to wake up, I heard the front door open, then slam closed.

"Hey everybody! What's for breakfast?" I heard Two-Bit ask.

"Pancakes and bacon," Pony told him.

"I'll just grab a beer and some of that chocolate cake," he said.

"Really Two-Bit? Beer and chocolate cake for breakfast?" Pony asked him, laughing.

I walked kind of slow down the hallway, because I was a little embarrassed about all those guys seeing me in my PJ's. I walked out into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Darry was sitting across from me, reading the morning paper. Soda and Steve were sitting on the couch, playing cards.

"Morning," Darry said. "Sleep okay?"

"Yeah, slept fine," I answered. I got up from the table, and sat on the floor with Two-Bit, watching what else, but Mickey Mouse. "Hey guys! What's the plan for today?"

"I don't know yet, probably cause some trouble," Two-Bit answered.

"Very funny," I said, laughing.

"The Hustler's playin' down at the movie theater," Ponyboy told us. "I was gonna go see it. Anyone else wanna come?"

"I'll go," I replied.

Soda looked up from the game he and Steve were playing. "I'm comin' too…'cause the movie looks really good," he said, blushing a little.

"Alright, cool. Let's go a little later, I gotta get ready an' all that," I told them.

"Then I guess we're gonna be seein' the movie tomorrow," Two-Bit joked.

"Shut up, Two-Bit," Soda told him, kicking him in the back.

"Ya don't gotta stick up for me just 'cause I'm a girl!" I cried. "I know he was just messin' around."

"It's not that, I…" he trailed off.

I went back to my room to get ready to go to the movie. I only had 2 pairs of jeans, 3 shirts, and a sweater in the small dresser in my room. I decided to wear the nicer shirt of the 3, a short yellow shirt dress that came to my thighs, with skinny-ish jeans, and of course, my black converse. I didn't put on too much make-up, only because I didn't have that much to begin with and I never really put on that much anyway.

I came back out from my room and ate breakfast. I discovered that Darry was a good cook, so what I ate while I stayed at the Curtis house wasn't going to be a problem. I wanted to leave soon, and to my surprise, everyone that was going was ready except Soda.

"C'mon, Soda," Ponyboy yelled. "You're takin' longer to get ready than Sara did."

"Hold on, I'll be right out," he called from the bathroom.

He came out of the bathroom and we went out the door.

"Bye, Darry, see ya later," I called from outside.

We walked into town where all the stores, banks, and the movie theater were. I was excited to go, because my mom didn't really take me to the movies when I was growing up. I looked up at Soda. He was almost a foot taller than me, so that was the only way I could look at him.

"I like your hair that way," I told him.

"Thanks. You look really nice," he said, putting his arm around my back a little. "Oh… sorry." He looked really embarrassed and quickly putting his arm down.

"No, its ok," I assured him.

There was a moment of awkward silence between us as we walked to the outside of the movie theater. My mind was racing. _Did I give him the wrong idea? I thought. No, no. He's a nice guy, funny, good-looking, obviously. If he _was _trying to make a move, then it worked. Whatever happens, happens. _

"Ohhhh, somethin's goin' on with Sara and Soda!" Steve yelled.

"Shut up, Steve. Nothin's goin' on, we're not going out. We're just friends," I told them. _Uh-oh. Now that I said we're "just friends" that might make him think I'm not interested, but I am, I thought. I better do something fast. _

"Hey guys, look. The Hustler's playin' at 12:15," Johnny announced. I hadn't even seen him leave with us. I usually don't know he's there unless he talks, but that's just the way he is.

"Great, what time is it now?" Pony asked.

"It's… 11:50 now. See there's a clock right up there," Johnny answered.

"C'mon let's go," Two-Bit said.

Everyone walked into the theater. We got the tickets, snacks, and went into the theater the movie was playing in. I sat down next to Johnny just as the previews started playing. To my surprise, Soda and Steve sat on the other side of me. I took a sip of my Pepsi as the lights were going out and the opening music started playing.

Right when I was getting into the movie, Soda yawned and carefully put his arm around my shoulder._ How original, the ol' yawn and stretch move, I thought._ I didn't say anything about it, while it was happening or after it happened, I just smiled at him.

The whole rest of the movie, all I could think about was how Soda was subtly making moves on me. I didn't mind, at least he wasn't trying _too _hard.

"The movie was great!" Pony said, pretending to be Paul Newman in The Hustler.

"You're too much sometimes, Ponyboy Curtis," I told him.

"C'mon, Pony. Darry's probably wonderin' where we are," Soda said, pulling his brother away from the mirror.

We walked back to their house, and I was _still _thinking about what Soda had done. I went in the house, and Darry was sitting at the kitchen table where we had left him, looking really stressed.

"Guys, can I… talk to Sara for a minute? Alone?" he asked. "And that wasn't a question, it was a statement. Beat it."

I got really nervous when he said that he needed to talk to me alone. I knew from experience that when someone needed to talk to you alone, it meant they had to tell you something bad.

"What's up? Should I be worried?" I asked, sitting down across from him.

"Well, just as I expected, Social Services called when you guys were at the movie. The lady asked me if there was any other family that could take you in, and I told her no, because you're mom kicked you out. She said that the only way to get custody of you is to go to court. The trial's next week," he explained.

"OK then, I should be nervous," I told him. "I'll go to the thing, but… I don't know if you'll…." I trailed off.

"What? Is there somebody else that can take you in?" he asked.

"Well… there _is _my older brother Eric. But he's in college, and I don't think he'll be able to take care of me," I told him.

"I'll call Social Services and we'll see what happens," he told me.

"I know he's my brother and I love him, but if he came down from University of Wisconsin, I'm not gonna let him take me. Too much has happened for me to just leave," I said, getting up from the chair. I felt like I was about to cry, but I didn't. I sat down on the couch and watched Pony, Soda, Johnny, Two-Bit, and Steve play football in the front yard. A million things were going through my head: what was I gonna if Eric showed up to my custody trial? What if my mom came and wanted me back? And what were people gonna think if Darry _did _get custody of me? I shook it all off, and went outside and sat on the front step. I knew I needed a way to get rid of my stress, and football was the perfect way to do it. I had always been a bit of a tomboy growing up, sitting by the TV and radio for countless hours, watching and listening to Yankee games with my dad, cheering when Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, or Roger Maris hit a home run, and playing pickup games of baseball, football, and basketball with the neighborhood kids.

"Need another player?" I called from the step.

"Sure, we're short one," Pony said.

I walked onto the front lawn, getting into position next to Pony, who was playing quarterback for our team.

"We better watch out fellas, looks like she knows what she's doin'," Steve teased.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Blue, 42, HIKE!!!" Pony shouted.

I ran down the lawn, hoping he would throw it my way.

"It's comin' to you, Sara!" he yelled.

Sure enough, he threw the ball to me. I caught it and held it at my chest like they had taught us in gym class in 5th grade. I ran to the side of the yard that was their end zone, making a touchdown.

"Who's teasing now? We're beating you," I cried, giving Steve the ball.

Steve threw the ball to Two-Bit, and he caught it. But Pony out-ran him and tackled him to the ground.

They got the ball back and Steve did a fake, ran to our end zone and scored.

It was our turn on offense and before Pony snapped the ball, he looked at me. I assumed that meant he was gonna throw it to me again, so I got ready to run to an open spot. He snapped the ball, and I ran again, but this time I took my time. I got the ball and went towards their end zone to score again, but Soda came up behind me, picked me up, and tackled _me _to the ground, but not the way Pony had gotten Two-Bit. He picked me up and we both went down. He stayed on me for a minute, looking into my eyes, then got up, and brushed the dirt off of his pants. I was still on the ground, laughing hysterically. It made my heart stop when he looked at me like that. The other guys were looking at Soda like he had 6 heads. To be honest, I was pretty surprised at what he had done too.

"What?" he asked them, looking very confused.

"Nothin' man," Johnny said. "We're just tired of playin', that's all. I gotta… go clean the house before my dad gets home from work, or he'll be really pissed off. An' you know what happens when my dad gets pissed."

"Alright, Johnnycake, see ya later," Two-Bit called.

We went into the house, and Two-Bit clicked on the TV to a Mickey Mouse cartoon.

"Awwh, Two-Bit, not this one _again_," Pony said. "We've all seen this one a million times, turn somethin' else on."

"No, no, this is a good one," Two-Bit argued, taking a sip of a beer.

"Hey Pony, got any more of that cake from last night?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, it's in the fridge, help yourself," Soda told him.

I decided to take a shower after getting all dirty from playing football. I loved everything about playing sports, except the getting dirty part.

"I'm gonna go… take a shower an' do a few things," I announced. I still wasn't used to living a in house full of guys, so I forgot that if I announced things like that that it got a little awkward. I walked down the hall to the bathroom, grabbed a towel from the closet, and took my shower. I hadn't taken a shower since before my mom kicked me out of the house, so the hot water felt nice on my tense body.

I got out of the bathroom, and got changed. I put on a pair of comfortable shorts and a tank top. I walked out into the main room, and Two-Bit whistled at me. I blushed a little in embarrassment.

"Hey man," Soda said, punching him hard in the shoulder. "Knock it off."

"Why do you care?" Two-Bit asked.

"'Cause…" he started. I kind of knew what he was going to say, but I also knew he would get embarrassed if he did. "'Cause how would you feel if you were her an' you had guys whistlin' at you all the time?" he answered.

"Guys don't usually whistle at me; that was the first time it's ever happened. So you don't have to defend me," I told him.

I sat down on the couch and watched the rest of the cartoon with Two-Bit. I must've fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes, it was dark outside. I saw Soda walk past the opening of the hallway and walk towards the bathroom. He must've seen me, because I heard him turn around and he walked into the living room.

"Hey kid," he whispered. "You're up."

"Mhmm," I mumbled. "Why do you care?"

"Darry told me to check up on you every couple of hours, that's why. You've been asleep since 4," he informed me.

I looked at the clock. 11:45. "That's not why you checked up on me and I know it," I exclaimed.

He looked around to make sure Darry or Pony weren't walking around. "Do you wanna know the truth?" he whispered.

"That depends," I replied.

"The first day- no, the first minute you were here, I knew I liked you. And I wasn't sure why I did, because I'd just met you. After those Socs jumped you and Johnny, I carried you back 'cause I knew it was the right thing to do. But when you came here cryin' to other night, something happened. All I wanted to do was tell you everything was gonna be OK, I did, but not the way I wanted to," he explained.

"Soda, I… wow," I said, in shock.

"There it is… I said it," he sighed.

That was it. I didn't tell anyone what Soda had told me, and he didn't tell anyone either. A week had passed, and it was finally the day before my custody trial. Everyone was sitting around in the living room and kitchen, trying to get out of the heat.

"Hey Sara, wanna go for a walk?" Pony asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"Sure," I told him. "Where to?"

"Around," he answered, getting up from the chair.

He opened the door for me and we walked down the street towards town. Soda and Darry were working, because it was a Wednesday.

"So… are you nervous about tomorrow?"

"Yeah, actually," I admitted.

"You'll be fine," he told me, putting his arm around my shoulder and hugging me.

"I'm not so sure about that, Ponyboy."

"Why not? The Social Services people trust Darry…"

"I have a weird feeling that my brother Eric might show up and wanna take me to Wisconsin."

He looked worried after I said that. We walked past the DX Station where Soda worked, and then we went to the park. I walked over to the jungle gym, climbed up, and sat on the top part. I waved at Pony, telling him to come over. He looked around, making sure that there was no one we knew around, and climbed on.

"Remember when we went to the movies last week and… never mind," Pony started.

"C'mon Pony, tell me. You can tell me anything, you know that."

"Well, when we were at the movies, I saw Soda, umm, doin' stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"OK, what I wanted to ask you was, is there somethin' goin' on between you and Soda? You guys are always lookin' at each other weird, and whenever you're in the same room, you sit as far away as possible from each other."

It was all over. Pony had read us like a book.

"I… wasn't supposed to tell anyone but… a few nights ago Soda told me he liked me."

"Really? I _knew _something was going on."

"Wait, there's more. I sort of… told him I liked him too."

There was a minute of awkward silence between us. I knew I had made a big mistake, because there was a chance that by the end of the day, all the guys would know what I had told Ponyboy.

Darry, Pony, Soda, and me were almost done getting ready to go to my custody trial, and it was almost 11. We had to be at the courthouse by 11:30. I felt like I was gonna throw up; the results of the trial said if I was going to have a future in Tulsa or not.

"Come on guys, we gotta get goin'" Darry said.

All of us squished into Darry's pickup truck, and headed to the courthouse. We were all in our best clothes, what we would wear if we were going to church.

When we got there, it was 11:15, so there was time until everyone had to be seated. Darry and Pony had already gone into the room, and Sodapop was out in the hallway, smoking a cigarette. I had never, ever seen him smoke before. But he said he was only doing it this one time to calm his nerves.

"You look really nervous. You want one?" he asked, handing me his lit cigarette.

"No, no I'm fine, really," I assured him. "And aren't you not supposed to smoke in here?"

Just when he was about to blow it out, we heard footsteps coming from around the corner.

"Oh shit," he cried. "C'mon, help me find somewhere to put this!"

The person turned the corner and walked towards us. I was really surprised to see that it was my brother, Eric.

"Don't worry, it's just my brother," I whispered. I walked down the hallway towards him. "Eric! What are you doing here?"

"Hey kiddo! Well, I can see you're not a kid anymore," he said, hugging me.

"You're not here to take me with you, are you?" I asked him, getting nervous.

"Of course not," he told me. "I just wanted to make sure you got put into the right hands."

Soda examined my brother for a minute. "She will, if she stays with us," he said.

"Is this your uhm… boyfriend?" Eric asked me.

"Him? No… This is Sodapop Curtis, his older brother Darry's been taking care of me since I got kicked out. Soda, this is my brother Eric," I told him.

"Hi," Eric said, shaking Soda's hand. "It's 11:25, you better get going."

"Alright," I said. "I'm gonna miss you, Eric."

"Trust me, I'm gonna miss you too," he said, hugging me again.

And we walked into the room where the trial was going to be.

All of us went up as witnesses, and told our sides of the story. The jury reached a verdict after 20 minutes of discussing. The judge went back up to the stand.

"The custody of Sara Rose Forman goes to Darrel Shayne Curtis Jr." she announced. "Court dismissed."

I walked out of the courthouse, about to cry. I saw Darry and ran over to him.

"Darry, Darry! We did it! It's all over!" I cried.

"You don't have to worry about leaving anymore," he said, smiling a little.

Soda and Pony came over to where we were. Pony grabbed me and gave me a huge hug. Then Soda did the same, lifting me off the ground.

"Yes!" he shouted. "You're stayin' with us for good!" He had the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face.

"Let's get outta here," Darry said, walking out the door.

When we were walking to the car, Soda took my hand. I didn't pull away, I didn't blush, I just smiled up at him and let it be. Finally, everything was the way it was supposed to be: I was living with the Curtis', not having to worry about my mom, I had the greatest friends anyone could ask for, and Soda and I told each other how we felt.


End file.
